We never gave up – Steve Cooper hails 10-man Forest following late equaliser

Steve Cooper stood by Brice Samba following the “huge error” which saw the goalkeeper receive a late red card and also praised the character of his players after 10-man Nottingham Forest salvaged a 2-2 draw with Stoke.

Stoke had looked to be on course for three points after Samba conceded a penalty and earned himself a red card in the 88th minute for swatting Stoke defender Phil Jagielka around the back of the head in bizarre fashion inside the area.

It allowed Lewis Baker to convert from the spot and give Stoke a 2-1 lead, after Josh Maja had previously cancelled out Brennan Johnson’s opening goal for Forest.

But the drama had not finished as Ryan Yates headed home in the second minute of stoppage time to spare the blushes of his goalkeeper and earn Forest a point.

“Brice knows he has made a huge error. For all the mistakes the referee made today, I have no complaints with the red card,” said Forest boss Cooper.

“Brice has made a mistake and it nearly cost us. But we never gave up, did we? We kept going.

“I never want to say that a draw at home is good, because we have to aim for more. But after what happened with Brice, we would always take that.

“Everyone makes mistakes and Brice is old enough to know that he has made a mistake today. Now is not the time to reflect too much on it. We need to take stock and have a conversation with him. We do not think anything less of him.

“It was an average game, truth be told. It took both teams a while to get going. It looked like the third game of a three-game week.

“After we had scored we were trying to manage the game and score another, but we conceded from a set-piece and then Brice had his moment – and the best we could hope for was a draw.

“It was a nice moment for Ryan to get the equaliser. There was no way we deserved to lose the game and Stoke definitely did not deserve to win it.”

When Maja equalised in the 68th minute, he celebrated in front of the Forest fans in the Bridgford Stand – and the Stoke striker narrowly avoided being hit by a beer bottle.

“There were beer bottles, that was pretty disappointing to see that,” said Stoke boss Michael O’Neill. “Someone managed to get into the ground with a full glass bottle of beer, and then it was tossed onto the pitch.

“I didn’t expect that, because this is a great place to come and play. I love coming here, there’s a brilliant atmosphere and the fans are great.

“He has to celebrate somewhere, you can’t do it in the middle of the pitch. I don’t think anything warrants having a bottle thrown at you.”

Forest boss Cooper did have issues with the performance of referee Leigh Doughty, but did not complain about the red card shown to Samba – and O’Neill also felt it was the correct decision.

“The keeper cannot do that, he’d played well too. But the ref was right in that situation,” said O’Neil. “The ref gave a penalty and that’s what it was.

“But it was frustrating not to win, I felt we were the better team. That’s something we have to improve on.”